This great animation series came out of the Filmation Associates camp
around 1977. It concerned the adventures of three young people removed from
earth, taken to an alien planet and given super human powers. They were then
returned to Earth to look after it and help the people develope naturally
without any interference from outside forces. Hercules was the Sentinel
empowered with the strength of a hundred men. Strong as he was though, from
time to time he was a bit thick. Astrea was given the ability to transform
herself into any other living creature. Mercury was given the gift of speed and
was so fast he could match the speed of light. Mercury (if memory serves me
right) was a bit younger or immature compared to the other two. He always
seemed to be the joker of the pack constantly sparring with Hercules or
boasting of his ability, whereas Astrea appeared to be the brains of the outfit
and kept the other two in check. Astrea made most of the decisions so I
supposed was really the leader of the group. The threesome were guided by
Sentinel One who was a super computer with a holographic head that appeared
when it wished to communicate. The Sentinel base (spaceship inside an extinct
volcano) was maintained by a maintenance operator droid called MO. We soon
learn from the first episode "Morpheus", that the Sentinels were not the first
ones. Before they were on the seen, a single sentinel had been produced who had
the powers of all three. He had turned to evil though and wanted to
rule/control the Universe and had left the planet whereabouts unknown.

At the start of each episode Sentinel One would explain how the young
Sentinels were chosen and given their powers:

Many centuries ago, three carefully selected young
Earthlings were transported from their native lands to my faraway
world.

Here they were granted astounding powers and eternal
youth.

Then returned to Earth, their mission, to watch over
the human race helping the good in it to survive and flourish.

In the course of history their names have become
legend.

Hercules, empowered with the strength of a hundred
men.

Astrea, able to assume any living form.

Mercury, the amazing athlete who can match the speed
of light.

Working together with me, Sentinel One and my
maintenance robot Mo

These teenage guardians form the greatest team the
world has ever known

The Space Sentinels.

The Sentinels basically lived inside the spaceship that returned from
the planet which turned them into superhumans. They spend most of their days
watching the planet Earth although the real observer is Sentinel One. MO has a
similar type personality to the AI droid in "Flight of the Navigator." Mo is in
love with Astrea and occasionally gets his circuits in a twist when she smiles
at him. The spaceship lies at the bottom of an extinct volcano - no idea where
though. The Sentinels had the power to fly when launched from the spaceship.
Three large cylindrical clear acrylic type tubes would drop down from the top
of the spaceship and the threesome would be launched into the air. Amazing but
apparently their were only thirteen episodes made. A bit like Mr. Benn, it
always felt that there were considerably more, although I guess many were
repeated and only shown one per week helped to possibly create the memory of
more. It was usually on television around 16:20 on a school day afternoon on
BBC1.

Characters

Hercules

Astrea

Mercury

Sentinel One

Maintenance Robot Mo

The Sorceress

Morpheus

The Time Traveller

Anubis

Space Giants

Click below images to see some of the episodes (two
presented below but six more to follow soon)